Will Osten linked his arm through that of Captain Dall, and hurried him into the street.
“Now to the agent,” he said. “If he fails me, all is lost—stay! no; I can offer to work my passage. That did not occur to me till now. I shall keep it in reserve.”
A few minutes more and they stood in the presence of Mr Zulino.
“Is it possible,” said Will, with an anxious expression of face, “to sell the property in Grizzly Bear Gulch immediately?”
The dry visage of the agent wrinkled into a sarcastic smile as he replied “Ha! I see, you are like all the rest—wish to turn everything into gold. Well, it is possible to sell it, I make no doubt, because it is well situated and will increase in value; but what, do you mean by immediately?”
“To-night,” said Will.
“Impossible.”
“What’s to be done?” cried our hero, turning to Captain Dall with a look of such perplexity and disappointment that even the hard heart of Mr Zulino was touched.
“Why such haste?” he inquired.
“Because business of the most urgent kind requires that I should embark for England in a vessel which sails to-morrow, and I have not money enough to pay for my passage.”